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LIVESTOCK 

RAISING 
in 

LOUISIANA 



Live Stock 
Raising in 
Louisiana 



By 



HARRY D. WILSON 

n 

Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration 
Louisiana State Board of Agriculture and Immigration 



5 f5\ 



COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY 

THE LOUISIANA COMPANY 

NEW ORLEANS 



y 



APR 20 1917 
3>CLA461361 



Live Stock Raising 
In Louisiana 



;S food is the basic essential of human life, 
the agricultural industry, of which meat 
production is a most important branch, 
must always overshadow every other field 
of human effort. 

The subject of the diminishing meat food 
supply was analyzed at the American Packers' Conven- 
tion prior to the European War, by the following com- 
parisons of the changes in population and changes in meat 
supply of the principal meat-eating countries of the world, 




covering a period of ten years: 



Population 
Increased 



Austria-Hungary 10% 

France 2% 

United Kingdom 10% 

Germany 1 



Cattle 
Increased 

2% 







'0 

4-6% 



Decreased 

Russia 14% 

United States 20% 

Argentina 4-0% 

Statistics issued by the United States Government 
show that during the period of ten years preceding the 
European War the prices of beef animals in the countries 
enumerated showed the following changes: 

Price Increased 

Austria-Hungary 

France 

United Kingdom 

Germany 



33.3% 
10.8% 

20.4% 

32 • 8% 



LIVE STOCK RAISING IN LOUISIANA 

Price Increased 

Russia 35-6% 

United States 747% 

Argentina 101.0% 

The European War has since decimated the herds of 
Europe, and drawn heavily upon the supply of the whole 
world. The conditions that were already bad, therefore, 
are now infinitely worse. 

Live stock raising is primarily an agricultural problem, 
and it is merely an incident that the forage crops and 
grasses are converted into cattle and hogs as the finished 
product. 

Climate and soil are the factors that enter into the 
production of agricultural products, and therefore into the 
production of live stock. 

As Louisiana possesses the most favored climate and 
most fertile soil of any section of the United States, it is 
to this section above all others that the attention of the 
live stock world is now turned. 

A few facts and figures regarding this commonwealth, 
therefore, may not be amiss, in a brief review of conditions 
directly pertaining to the live stock industry: 

The State of Louisiana has an area of 48,720 square 
miles, and a population of 1,656,388. 

Louisiana is larger than the combined areas of Con- 
necticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New 
Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, whose total area 
is 47,685 square miles, and total population 7,307,978. 

Louisiana is larger than Ohio, with Delaware and Rhode 
Island thrown in, the area of these states being 44,360 
square miles, and the population 5,512,053. 

Louisiana is larger than Pennsylvania, which has 45,215 
square miles, and 7,655,111 population. 

Comparisons show, therefore, that Louisiana has a 
lower ratio of population to its area than any of the states 
enumerated. 



LIVE STOCK RAISING IN LOUISIANA 

Louisiana, before the Civil War, was the wealthiest 
section of the Union. In i860 farm property in the state, 
according to the government census, was valued at $247,- 
984,000. Then came the war, and in 1870 this value had 
dropped to $73,043,000. 

During the war the flower of the manhood perished, 
capital was destroyed, and for a long period afterward the 
fields were deserted, and rich lands worth millions of 
dollars went to waste. 

While the resources of nearly every state in the Union 
have been developed, at one time or another, by capital 
brought in from other localities, it is a notable fact that 
Louisiana has been dependent upon the capital created 
within its own borders. It is an equally interesting fact 
that the wealth of the people of Louisiana has been 
derived almost entirely from the rich agricultural lands. 

While the population of the United States as a whole 
has increased about 192 per cent during the last fifty years, 
the population of Louisiana has increased only about 134 
per cent within the same period; this difference being 
caused by the lack of colonization. 

During the past half century the United States Govern- 
ment has made prodigal gifts from the public domain to 
encourage colonization west of the Mississippi River, 
including vast grants of land to induce the building of 
railroads; the railroads, in turn, have advertised those 
lands throughout the entire country, which has resulted 
in the West becoming widely known and its lands generally 
settled. 

During the time the Western States were being adver- 
tised and colonized, no effort was made to advertise 
Louisiana; and the advantages of this state are now but 
little known to the outside world — yet it is the premier 
section of the United States, for corn, cotton, sugar-cane, 
and grazing. 

Notwithstanding the large fortunes made in the cultiva- 



LIVE STOCK RAISING IN LOUISIANA 



tion of sugar-cane and cotton, the progressive men of 
Louisiana have long recognized the great advantages from 
diversified farming, and this has resulted in corn becoming 
the principal crop of the state, and live stock an industry 
of tremendous value and importance. 

Prof. Willis L. Moore, while Chief of the United States 
Weather Bureau, said: 

"Probably the most important feature of climate, as 
affecting both animal and vegetable life, is the tempera- 
ture. The average crop season in the North is limited to 
a period of little more than one hundred days. On the 
other hand, the State of Louisiana has a long period of 
crop growth — more than three hundred days in the 
southern portion. 

"This long period of crop growth permits the cultiva- 
tion of nearly every variety of agricultural product; and 
not only one, but frequently two or three different crops 
may be secured from the same soil in a single year." 

The climate of Louisiana is salubrious, with plentiful 
and well-distributed rainfall. The following tabulation 
from the reports of the United States Department of 
Agriculture Weather Bureau for a year, showing the 
records at important stations in the states enumerated, 
indicates the advantages of this area in both temperature 
and rainfall, as compared with the leading meat-producing 
states of the North — Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, 
Missouri and Nebraska: 



Highest 
Tempera- 
ture 

Louisiana 79 

Illinois 56 

Indiana 59 

Iowa 48 

Kansas 6i° 

Missouri 68° 

Nebraska 63 



JANUARY 








Lowest 


Mean 


Total 


Number 


Tempera- 


Tempera- 


Rainfall 


of Cloudy 


ture 


ture 


Inches 


Days 


35° 


59-3° 


5-13 


II 


3° 


30.6° 


3-55 


19 


20° 


35-1° 


7.63 


19 


-15° 


19.6 


1.38 


9 


4° 


31.2° 


0.30 


10 


i° 


29.8 


3.25 


14 


—ii° 


24.0 


0.31 


II 



LIVE STOCK RAISING IN LOUISIANA 



FEBRUARY 



Highest 
Tempera- 
ture 

Louisiana 78 

Illinois . . 64 

Indiana 65 

Iowa 6o° 

Kansas 70 

Missouri 69 

Nebraska 72 

Louisiana 86° 

Illinois 70 

Indiana 71 

Iowa 62 

Kansas 8o° 

Missouri 76 

Nebraska 72 

Louisiana 89 

Illinois 83 

Indiana 78 

Iowa 84 

Kansas 88° 

Missouri 88° 

Nebraska 87 

Louisiana 92 

Illinois 95 

Indiana 87° 

Iowa 86° 

Kansas 99 

Missouri 99 

Nebraska 98 



Lowest 


Mean 


Total 


Number 


Tempera- 


Tempera- 


Rainfall 


of Cloudy 


ture 


ture 


Inches 


Days 


30° 


54-3° 


3.17 


8 


0° 


26.8 


i-35 


14 


-1° 


27.4 


1.85 


II 


-10° 


19.6 


0.41 


7 


-1° 


28.9 


0.52 


12 


-3° 


25-8° 


1.77 


14 


—6° 


23-0° 


0.09 


10 


MARCH 








34° 


6 i.o° 


0.88 


8 


0° 


37-9° 


5-55 


18 


4° 


394° 


7.76 


11 


-14° 


30.5° 


370 


8 


—2° 


39-3° 


0.88 


17 


—2° 


38.2° 


5-95 


14 


-7° 


35-6° 


1-55 


12 



APRIL 



40° 


67.6 


3-97 


3 


34° 


53-6° 


3-55 


9 


3i° 


52.0 


3.01 


12 


26° 


49-8° 


1.48 


6 


34° 


57-3° 


3.18 


15 


30° 


547° 


3.22 


10 


30° 


53-7° 


2.46 


9 



MAY 



55 u 


74.2" 


5-33 


7 


34° 


65.0 


0.96 


11 


38 u 


637° 


1.49 


12 


33° 


58.4° 


6.21 


11 


40° 


67. i° 


5.8o 


12 


38° 


65.0 


2. 11 


14 


40° 


63.0 


6.02 


13 



LIVE STOCK RAISING IN LOUISIANA 



JUNE 

Highest Lowest 
Tempera- Tempera- 
ture ture 

Louisiana 98° 58° 

Illinois ioo° 41° 

Indiana 97 42° 

Iowa 96° 36° 

Kansas 98° 46° 

Missouri 104° 41° 

Nebraska 99° 43° 

TUIA' 

Louisiana 98° 69° 

Illinois 103° 56° 

Indiana 102 54° 

Iowa ioo° 51° 

Kansas 103° 6i° 

Missouri 104° 56° 

Nebraska 109° 54° 

AUGUST 

Louisiana 98° 68° 

Illinois ioi° 57° 

Indiana 96° 57° 

Iowa 97° 46° 

Kansas 105° 57° 

Missouri 109° 51° 

Nebraska 107° 54° 

SEPTEMBER 

Louisiana 97 51 

Illinois 99 36 

Indiana 96 37 

Iowa ioo° 29 

Kansas 102 30 

Missouri 105 35 

Nebraska 103 34 



Mean 


Total 


Number 


Tempera- 


Rainfall 


of Cloudy 


ture 


Inches 


Days 


80.O 


4.86 


7 


76.2° 


I.84 


6 


74.2 


2.35 


6 


70-4° 


I.38 


3 


75-5° 


1.66 


10 


76.6° 


2.17 


4 


74.0 


2.27 


5 



82. 0° 


1.44 


11 


80.0 


1.66 


1 




77-9° 


3-88 


2 


75-0° 


1.84 


2 


82.0 


2.07 


6 


79.8 


2.77 


12 


81. 0° 


i-95 


3 



82.8 


6.92 


8 


79-9° 


2.88 


4 


76.3° 


4.98 


5 


74.6 


1.66 


2 


85-0° 


0.49 


1 


82. 4 


2.20 


4 


82. 6° 


0.31 


4 



77-6 u 


15.50 


15 


67.8 


341 


14 


66.0 


3.02 


15 


63.6 


4.58 


8 


69-5° 


4.03 


13 


67.8 


7-17 


14 


674° 


3-30 


9 



LIVE STOCK RAISING IN LOUISIANA 



OCTOBER 



Highest 
Tempera- 
ture 

Louisiana 92 

Illinois 82 

Indiana 85 

Iowa 79 

Kansas 85 

Missouri 85 

Nebraska 84 

Louisiana 86° 

Illinois 75 

Indiana 73 

Iowa 69 

Kansas 74 

Missouri 78 

Nebraska 72 

Louisiana 8o° 

Illinois 58 

Indiana 58 

Iowa 54 

Kansas 6o° 

Missouri 68° 

Nebraska 54 



Lowest 


Mean 


Total 


Number 


Tempera- 


Tempera- 


Rainfall 


of Cloudy 


ture 


ture 


Inches 


Days 


37° 


67.2 


8.50 


15 


25° 


53-6° 


3.6l 


13 


29 


55-0° 


2-73 


14 


15° 


49.0 


4.28 


7 


22° 


55-2° 


5-93 


10 


22° 


52.6° 


2.59 


13 


15° 


50-9° 


0.70 


8 


NOVEMBER 








33° 


66.0 


2.71 


10 


23° 


49-2° 


4-49 


14 


20° 


47.6 


6.20 


20 


13° 


42-7° 


2.31 


12 


22° 


50.8° 


2-55 


12 


19° 


49.2 


3-3i 


15 


19 


46.4 


2-43 


11 


DECEMBER 








32° 


54-2° 


3.21 


9 


21° 


37-8° 


0.77 


18 


16 


37-2° 


0.49 


19 


10° 


32-2° 


1. 00 


12 


10° 


37.3 


3-75 


16 


16 


36.0 


2.40 


19 


6° 


33-5° 


4-03 


11 



It is interesting to note a comparison with Argentina, 
which ranks as the best stock-raising area outside of the 
United States, and is in the same latitude south as 
Louisiana is north. 

Argentina, although possessing an ideal climate as to 
temperature, suffers at intervals from destructive droughts 
which injure the forage crops and therefore the live stock 
industry; whereas the records of a century show that 
Louisiana enjoys a never-failing and abundant rainfall, 



LIVE STOCK RAISING IN LOUISIANA 

well distributed throughout the year, attributable to the 
proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, and to innumerable lakes, 
rivers and bayous, including its 4,794 miles of navigable 
waterways. 

The alluvial soil of Louisiana, moreover, is incompar- 
ably more fertile than the lands of Argentina. 

To quote Prof. S. A. Knapp, of the United States 
Department of Agriculture : 

"It would be necessary to take the prairies of Iowa, the 
rugged timber lands of Maine, and the entire delta of the 
Nile, twist them together and thrust through them the 
Amazon, to produce another Louisiana." 

A beneficent climate, combined with the two great 
natural sanitary agents, namely, frequent and abundant 
rainfall and abundant sunshine, assures ideal health con- 
ditions in this area. 

Dr. Oscar Dowling, President of the Louisiana State 
Board of Health, a health authority of international repu- 
tation, in an address summed up conditions thus: 

"It has been my good fortune to visit Canada and 
almost every state in the Union, to study in Mexico, 
England, France and Germany, and to travel in the other 
European countries, and I am sincere in saying there is, 
in my judgment, no more altogether desirable place, every 
aspect considered, and health primarily, than Louisiana, 
the land of the mocking-bird and the orange blossom." 

Those who have not visited the alluvial areas of Louisi- 
ana cannot credit the statements concerning the marvel- 
ous fertility of the soil — the richest in the world, and 
almost inexhaustible. 

Other sections can grow similar crops, but not in such 
great abundance; consequently, the cost of producing all 
the foods that go into raising and fattening live stock is 
less here than in any other territory where cattle and 
hogs are raised. 

In the summer of 1914 a convention of editors of the 



10 



LIVE STOCK RAISING IN LOUISIANA 

leading agricultural and live stock journals of the North 
made a three weeks' tour of inspection over the State of 
Louisiana, as a result of which they pronounced this state 
superior to all others from the standpoint of natural con- 
ditions; and it may be pertinent at this time to quote a 
few of their remarks: 

Alson Secor, editor of ' 'Successful Farming," Des 
Moines, Iowa, said: 

"Louisiana has the soil and climate, and many natural 
advantages. You can grow more per acre than we in the 
North. With the introduction of live stock to use the 
wonderful growth of vegetation, you can produce meat 
cheaper than any other state." 

Fred Ranney, of the " Missouri and Kansas Farmer," 
Kansas City, Missouri, said: 

"There is no place in the United States where the cli- 
mate is more pleasant. There is one advantage that 
Louisiana has over every other state in the Union, and 
that advantage is contained in the richness of soil. Louisi- 
ana also comprises a field for the live stock industry that 
is positively unsurpassed anywhere in the country. Here, 
both hogs and cattle may forage all the year, because the 
grass is always green and new crops are ever growing. 
Pork and beef can be produced at a minimum cost under 
these circumstances." 

Fred L. Petty, of the "Farm and Home," Chicago, said: 

"Your reclaimed lands are the richest I have ever seen, 
and produce beyond anything I ever imagined possible. 
The live stock man can find in this state a better place 
than he now has to raise and fatten cattle and hogs." 

B. T. Fisher, of "Farm Life," Spencer, Indiana, said: 

"Your state certainly has boundless agricultural possi- 
bilities; the wonderful fertility of the soil, the equable 
climate and long open seasons enabling the farmer to 
labor on his farm almost all the year, raising several crops 
on one piece of land." 



11 



LIVE STOCK RAISING IN LOUISIANA 

A. C. Brokaw, of the "Minneapolis Tribune," said: 

"No other state in the Union can hope to offer the 
agricultural opportunities of Louisiana." 

H. E. Young, of the "Farmers' Tribune," Chicago, said: 

"The wonderful fertility of the soil of Louisiana has 
attracted my attention more than the growing crops. To 
me the fertility of Louisiana soil constitutes a genuine 
wonder. Fertility of soil is a basic property for any agri- 
cultural commonwealth. Louisiana possesses the basic 
quality and quantity to a marked degree." 

F. M. Higgins, of "Better Farming," Chicago, said: 

"I believe that the soil and climate of Louisiana, coupled 
with the accumulated knowledge of our agricultural col- 
leges and experiment stations, presents an opportunity to 
the farmer never equaled in the United States. I find that 
the agricultural productions are the most diversified of any 
state in the Union." 

Jan Janak, of the "Hospodar," Omaha, Nebraska, 
said: 

"I have found here the best soil I have ever seen in my 
life. The farmer can raise everything, from the miniature 
Japan clover, with its great feeding and pasturing quali- 
ties, up to the majestic pecan tree. He can take pride in 
raising fine horses, nationally-reputed Louisiana mules, 
good dairy cows, beef cattle, hogs, sheep and goats." 

H. S. Groves, of the "Ranch and Range," Denver, 
Colorado, said: 

' ' 1 was shown that these lands grow three or more crops 
in one year. I thought I had seen some corn-growing in 
such states as Missouri, Iowa and Illinois; but what I 
saw growing there were mere dwarfed pjants, compared 
with the kind you grow on your soils, which produce 75 
to 150 bushels per acre. Then, too, the great variety of 
crops that you can grow is astounding to one from the 
North. I was on one place where forty-three different 
varieties of crops were being grown." 



12 



LIVE STOCK RAISING IN LOUISIANA 

F. M. Kingsbury, of the "Indiana Farmer," Indian- 
apolis, Indiana, said: 

"With the fertility of Louisiana's soil and the long 
growing season that you have, together with the fact 
that such a great variety of farm crops and fruits can be 
grown, there seems to be no limit to the agricultural 
possibilities." 

J. W. Jarnigan, of the "Iowa Farmer," Des Moines, 
Iowa, said: 

"You can raise corn even better than we do in the 
world-famous corn belt. Corn is a wonderfully profitable 
crop when marketed in the form of beef and pork. There 
is a world shortage in meat. There is a great future for 
the cattle industry, and you people can produce beef 
cattle at about one-fourth of the expense that we people 
of the North can, so it is plain that there is a wonderful 
opportunity in Louisiana for the stock-raiser." 

The whole secret of live stock raising lies in grass. 

If a locality is well supplied with grass, this pasturage 
assures the success of the live stock industry just so long 
as the grass remains. 

The measure of success depends upon the abun- 
dance of the grass and the period of time each year 
when the open pasturage enables cattle to survive and 
thrive. 

Cattle raised on the wild grasses of the open Western 
range must be shipped to the corn belt — Iowa, Illinois, 
Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska — to be 
fattened and prepared for market. 

The corn-belt states have no pasturage, as their entire 
growing season is devoted to the production of corn, and 
if they should enter the grazing field, their position 
would be identical with that of the Western ranges, in 
that they would be compelled to ship their pasture-fed 
cattle to some corn-raising territory where the stock 
could be fattened and prepared for market. 



13 



LIVE STOCK RAISING IN LOUISIANA 

The feeding of corn is very expensive and cannot make 
up for the loss of grass, which is essential. 

If the Western ranges or the corn-belt states could pro- 
vide abundant open pasturage throughout the year, then 
these states could produce live stock abundantly and 
cheaply, and it would not be necessary to ship from one 
section to another, in order to prepare for the market. 

Such a transformation of climate would mean freedom 
from the rigors of winter, and would result in the saving 
of forage fed throughout the cold season — of which 30 per 
cent of the nutritive values goes to sustain animal heat and 
is therefore an economic loss. 

The superabundance of all forage crops, both for grazing 
and ensilage, makes it possible to produce cattle and hogs 
in Louisiana ready for the market, more cheaply than in 
any other part of America. 

In Evangeline, Longfellow's description of the Bayou 
Teche area in Louisiana contains the remarkable assertion 
that it is a locality ' 'where grass grows more in a single 
night than during a whole Canadian summer." 

John M. Parker, a leader in the public life of America, 
who has long been engaged in raising live stock on an 
extensive scale in Louisiana, and who has personally in- 
vestigated the industry in every state of the Union, says: 

"I do not know of a single state that produces more 
alfalfa, lespedeza and all of the grasses, per acre, than you 
can find in Louisiana, and I do not know of another state 
in the Union that offers better climatic conditions for 
raising live stock." 

In this alluvial area the returns from alfalfa, lespedeza 
and other clovers, Bermuda, and innumerable other varie- 
ties of grasses, and from cowpeas, soy beans, velvet beans, 
vetch, sorghum, and other forage crops, are amazing when 
compared with other localities. 

These forage crops may be fed in the field, or cut and 
made into ensilage. 



14 



LIVE STOCK RAISING IN LOUISIANA 

The returns are equally great from potatoes, peanuts, 
and so on — in fact, almost every known agricultural 
product is grown here with greatest success, and the area 
offers wider diversification of crops than is possible in any 
other section of the United States. 

The banner food crop of the South is corn, and 
here almost half of the entire American production is 
grown. 

On the rich lands of Louisiana, corn reaches the highest 
degree of perfection from the standpoint of rapidity of 
growth, quality and quantity. 

One acre of Louisiana land has produced 156 bushels 
of corn, samples of which in competition with hundreds 
from all over the Union were declared by official authority 
to surpass in quality any other corn grown in the United 
States that year. 

An authority has enumerated a few advantages in grow- 
ing corn in Louisiana, namely: 

Corn is only one of several field crops that may be 
grown upon the same land in the same year. 

It matures quickly and is ready for market upon 
maturity, "sun drying" in the field. 

It is ready for market two months or more before the 
Northern corn, thereby bringing the highest prices of the 
season. 

It contains from 2 to 7 per cent less moisture at maturity 
than other corn, and is therefore worth that much more 
than Northern corn. 

For the silo, a heavy crop, 15 tons per acre, or more, 
may be harvested seventy days after planting. 

It has an advantage in price on the open market of 
8 cents to 15 cents per bushel, because of its proximity to 
export markets; that is, the Chicago price and freight-cost 
to port of export are realized by the Louisiana grower. 

Philip Rothrock, in charge of the United States Stand- 
ardization Bureau at New Orleans, says: 



15 



LIVE STOCK RAISING IN LOUISIANA 

1 'Louisiana corn will grade as high as any in the United 
States." 

A few authoritative opinions on corn-raising conditions 
in Louisiana may be of interest: 

Prof. S. A. Hoover, Agriculturist, State Normal School 
of Missouri, says: 

"The land is certainly first-class corn land." 

Prof. J. G. Christie, Agricultural Department, Purdue 
University, says: 

"The corn we inspected was immense. The stalks were 
large and as well eared as any I have ever seen." 

Eugene Funk, President of the National Corn Growers' 
Association, says: 

"The Louisiana soil is so rich in the soil foods for corn, 
that seed which will produce nubbins on inferior soil will 
make good big ears in Louisiana. An average corn crop in 
Louisiana in the delta country should be ioo bushels to 
the acre." 

Prof. Perry G. Holden, of Iowa, the noted American 
authority on corn, says: 

"The best corn land I have ever seen. It is good for ioo 
bushels to the acre. I have always believed that Louisiana 
was to be the greatest corn country in the world." 

One phase of the live stock industry that may be 
touched upon lightly is dairying. 

Among outside experts who have investigated condi- 
tions for dairying in Louisiana, is Prof. Hugh Van Pelt, 
the Iowa authority, who says: 

"In Iowa they are now saying that it does not pay to 
feed live stock on land worth $300 to $500 per acre. If 
conditions are correct, however, the value of the land is 
a small factor. 

"In Denmark, land is worth $1,000 to $1,500 per acre, 
and rents for as much as the selling price in Louisiana, and 
she imports her feed from this country, yet her butter 
wins her prosperity in the markets of the world. The Isle 



16 



LIVE STOCK RAISING IN LQUISANA 

of Jersey exports annually $400 of produce per acre, and 
her land is worth $800 to $1,700 per acre, yet she depends 
upon intensive farming and live stock. She buys grain 
and grasses in America to feed her dairy cows." 

W. G. Hutton, of "Farm Progress," St. Louis, Missouri, 
says of Louisiana: 

". Ideal for dairying for one chief reason — your long 
grazing season and your luxuriant grass crops." 

Writing of Louisiana as he saw it during a tour of the 
state, H. E. Colby, of "Kimball's Dairy Farmer," Water- 
loo, Iowa, says: 

"Here is a country that is rich in feed, that has a long 
grazing season, and that has every facility for successful 
dairying." 

Every article used or employed by the live stock grower 
of Louisiana can be produced on the ground, or purchased 
in the immediate locality. 

The Western cattle grower depends upon grass, and 
must send his stock to the Middle States to be prepared 
for market; while the Middle States feeder produces crops 
for fattening, but has little grass for pasturage. 

In Louisiana the two are combined, making an ideal 
condition for raising live stock successfully at the lowest 
cost, and therefore at the greatest profit. 

At the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, at San 
Francisco in 191 5, Louisiana was awarded the Grand 
Prize for Forage Crops — corn, peas, soy beans, leguminous 
hays, and sweet potatoes. 

Here the thousand-pound yearling-steer and the two- 
hundred-pound year-old pig can be made ready for the 
market at a cost of $4.50 and $3.00 per hundredweight, 
respectively, and yield the grower $10 for every hundred 
pounds — sold on the hoof. 



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